The Intermediate Division is an instructional league.

Our primary responsibility is to teach the fundamental skills of baseball in a safe and enjoyable setting, which promotes sportsmanship and an atmosphere conducive to the emotional and physical growth of our players.

Our goal is to teach baseball to all of our players, providing opportunities for all to play in a variety of baseball positions, regardless of their level of experience or skill.  The success of the coaches will be determined by the degree to which they accomplish the responsibility and goal stated above, rather than by the number of games won or lost.

There are no playoffs in this division however records and scores are officially recorded.  At the conclusion of the Intermediate season an All-Star game may be held as an exhibition. The coaches for the All-Star game may be the teams with the two best W-L records.

Intermediate is the final division before Majors, which will be more competitive.  As a result, the Intermediate Division requires a balance of encouraging as many players as possible to keep playing and learning baseball, while at the same time preparing them for the increasing focus on competition.   Our goal at this level is to continue developing our players while encouraging all players to continue playing in the years to come.  Coaches may consider a player’s ability level if there is a concern that it will be unsafe to put that player at a position, for example at 1st base or catcher, but it is essential that coaches find opportunities to play players at the most desired positions.  In our Intermediate division, no player should be assigned a position and limited to only playing that position.  Such an approach is not favored as it seems inevitably to lead players to stop playing baseball.

The required time commitment for coaches at this level is greater than in T-Ball and Minors.  At this level, teams practice once a week (on a week night) and may have one or two games per week; one on a weekday night and one on Saturday morning.  Games at this level are supposed to be 6 innings, but may be called due to darkness or the start of the next scheduled game.  Since players pitch for the first time, keeping track of the number of pitches becomes part of a coach’s responsibility in order to ensure the safety of developing arms.  This is also the first level to feature umpires, who by our league policy are usually former players who are only three or four years older than the players.  This means that there will be mistakes made by umpires and requires that coaches model good sportsmanship and discuss the importance of it with players.

Intermediate is the last step before the “real game” played in Majors.  Due to the skill level, the rules at this level limit some aspects of “real” baseball, such as the number of steals and extra bases.  Players will spend two years at this level before moving on to Majors.

Ossining JCYS Intermediate Rules